55-year-old woman ID'd after body discovered in possible California shark attack
The body that was discovered near where a swimmer who may have been attacked by a shark was positively identified as 55-year-old Erica Fox of Monterey County, officials in California said in an update on Monday.
The woman's body was recovered from the ocean south of Davenport Beach on Sunday, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office.
Due to the close proximity to the shark attack victim in Monterey County, the agency worked with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office and the Pacific Grove Police Department to help in the recovery.
Fox was reported missing just after noon on Dec. 21 at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove in Monterey Bay, according to a joint statement from the Coast Guard and the cities of Pacific Grove and Monterey at the time.
Fox's father confirmed to ABC's Santa Cruz affiliate KSBW on Sunday that family members identified the body as Fox, based on the clothing she was wearing.
Fox was wearing a shark deterrent anklet when she disappeared, family members said, according to KSBW.
After her disappearance, two witnesses said the swimmer "may have encountered a shark," the statement said. One person reported seeing a shark with a body in its mouth before it submerged, a Coast Guard official said.
A decision to suspend the search last week was made following a total of more than 15 hours of search operations covering an area of more than 84 square nautical miles, according to officials.
Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove and McAbee Beach and San Carlos Beach in Monterey were closed through Tuesday, the officials said.
ABC News' Tristan Maglunog and Amanda Morris contributed to this report.
